NFL focusing on concussions

Broncos, league moving in right direction with treatment

ENGLEWOOD -- A few minutes after clarity drained back into his head, Omar Bolden realized what he had done.

The Broncos rookie had come off the field after a punt play against the San Diego Chargers two weeks ago and admitted he felt woozy.

Uh-oh. Fifteen years ago -- maybe even three or four years ago -- such an admission would have been good for some macho sideline humor, maybe even a helmet slap where it hurt as a badge of honor.

Not anymore. When it comes to concussions, the NFL has told its boys it's time to grow up and stop smelling the salts.

"They took me out and wouldn't let me back on the field," Bolden said. "I was upset that I told him. They took all the precautions, even though it wasn't serious. It was mild, man. And they treated it like it was severe. But now that it's all said and done, looking at the bigger picture, you've got to be smart. You've only got one brain."

No one has a bigger football brain than Peyton Manning. So, when the Broncos' quarterback had the back of his head slammed to the Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium turf after throwing a touchdown pass last week, the Broncos' medical team went to work.

Even though Manning got up and walked off the field under his own power near the end of the first half, he was given a computerized baseline concussion test in the locker room at halftime.

All NFL players are administered baseline concussion tests when they report to training camp, and periodically during the season, as a point of reference.

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That way, when Manning took his concussion test at halftime of the Kansas City game, his responses and answers could be matched against his responses from earlier before he went back on the field.

"You can't fake the attention test," said Dr. Mark Zascharewicz of the Brain and Behavior Clinic in Boulder and Denver. "You can't fake the memory test. Because you're not going to know the answers ahead of time. So if you try to fake it and say 'I'm fine,' but you bomb that test, the doctor will say, 'I don't think you're ready.' "

Manning passed the test and was cleared. He played the entire second half and made two clutch, perfect, deep throws to Demaryius Thomas that secured the Broncos' sixth consecutive win.

The Broncos will attempt to win their seventh in a row, and clinch the AFC West title in the process , against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

The Broncos quarterback was lucky -- instead of becoming a statistic; he put them up.

Declining numbers

The NFL says there were 218 concussions suffered in 321 combined preseason and regular-season games in 2010 -- a number up from previous years. Last year, the number of game concussions fell to 190.

"More concussions are reported now, so the number of concussions was lower several years ago," the NFL's Clare Graff said in an email. "But since the heightened awareness and more reporting of concussions, the trend this year was fewer (lowest in three years). In addition, the down time for each injury (days lost) has increased, which means the injury is being treated more conservatively."

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